I teach because I have to. In all the jobs I've had to pay my way through life, only teaching has (as of today) not left an empty feeling. This is my calling; and sometimes I feel that I chose to teach as much as teaching chose me.
*Note: The thoughts expressed here are my own and not intended to represent the school or district I work for.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Arrival

Wow. My brother and I arrived safely in Connecticut yesterday evening. Our trip took five days of driving to complete. I thought about keeping a running diary for the blog, but I was too busy trying to maneuver a Penske 22 ft truck (with cab it is closer to 30) plus a car carrier towed behind. In all, I had close to 48 feet of truck and trailer.Here are the highlites of the trip:Day One:Everett, WA to Missoula, MT. We departed two hours late because we hadn't finished loading the truck the night before, and then, my spatial handicap prevented us from easily and quickly backing out of the entrance to our development. If I had thought about it, I would have had someone videotape that debacle. Youtube would have enjoyed many hits as people laughed at me.The trip across Washington went relatively well, as did our venture through Idaho. My brother enjoyed the view of Lake Cour de Lene. Montana did not treat us as well. As we sped past Missoula, we approached a traffic jam. It turned out that a forrest fire prevented cars from passing on I-90. We had to turn back and find a hotel in Missoula--well short of our intended goal of Billings. As we exited, a nice lady informed us that the back tire on the trailer looked low. After pulling into a gas station, we discovered that the tire was already flat. Turns out that the fire was good after all. Day Two:Missoula, MT to Rapid City, SD. We discovered that there is very little to see in southeastern Montana and all of Wyoming. A very boring day of driving. The one exciting moment came when we stopped for gas and had to travel deep off the highway and the station was so tiny that I could barely squeeze the truck and trailer through. The second less exciting moment came again when stopping for gas. I had maneuvered the truck into position and was waiting for the vehicle occupying the spot to exit the station. She took five minutes to do so and then decided that she needed to spritz her hair. When she realized we were waiting for her spot--which was obvious--she got into her car, and continued to spritz away, smiling at us. I waved a friendly hello.Day Three:Rapid City, SD to Rockford, IL. A long day capped by the best hotel we had in the four nights of the trip. This Holiday Inn Express took very good care of us and its facility. Not much happened though.Day Four:Rockford, IL to Cleveland, OH. A shorter day because we wanted to see a baseball game on the trip. Unfortunately, the timing of our journeys didn't allow for Wrigley Field. But, we went to Jacobs Field, home of the Indians, for a game against Texas. Being Red Sox fans, we were disappointed with the crowd energy, but the stadium is beautiful. If I lived in Cleveland, I would go to a lot of games.Oh, Chicago traffic sucks. It sucked back in 1997 when I drove from Connecticut to Seattle. Day Five:Cleveland, OH to Ellington, CT. It was good to arrive here at the lake. I will have to learn how to drive again; my skills have diminshed since leaving Connecticut. I had forgotten exactly how aggressive these people drive.

3 Comments:

Congratulations on the completion of your trip (and taking the time for baseball, a necessary luxury we must all remember to take). I drove from Seattle to Virgina once, and it was a long trip, especially through Nebraska and Kansas.